42 review

Adam: This is probably one of the fastest turn-arounds we've ever had in terms of posting reviews. Then again, this is probably because I wrote both of these yesterday and I'm just really excited to get them both posted.

This review is for the new movie 42 that opens today. It really is worth seeing, but if you haven't seen Evil Dead or Jurassic Park in IMAX yet, go see those instead. If you've seen everything else you want to see, or Evil Dead just isn't your cup of blood--erm, tea, then this one is a nice little trip to the movies (as long as you know what to expect). It seems I expected too much from this movie, but I do believe that if I saw it again, I would enjoy it more. Just don't expect a game-changer and you'll be fine.

But enough with this pre-review review. Let's get to the real thing.

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42: A Movie About Trying Something New That Doesn’t

The new Jackie Robinson biopic 42 could have just as easily been titled Race-ball. We’ve seen it before: a hyper-inspirational movie about overcoming racial equality (through sports, no less) that makes the audience feel really good about not being racist, but doesn’t actually tackle anything new or show racism for the monster it is. Honestly, I could end the review there, but I’m going to go more in-depth because there are actually some really good things in this movie, despite the fact that it follows a list of clichés.

42 is the story of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American baseball player to break the baseball color line. I’d like to say, “but it’s more than just a racial sports movie” here, but I can’t. I will say, however, that it executes a lot of the usual tropes very well. The cinematography captures the era nicely, and all of the actors do a great job bringing life to the mediocre writing (seriously, some of it is so dang cheesy). The melodramatic tone of the film is almost laughable in some parts, bringing eyerolls instead of teardrops when the inspirational score plays over preachy dialogue, but not all of the sermons hit a sour note. This film is tailored to a crowd that just wants to see racists be utterly destroyed by “forward thinking” without having to face a real depiction of 40’s racism.

I do, however, feel the need to mention a few specific things that I feel made this movie worth watching and decent (because overall, it is in fact a decent movie). The first, and most obvious, is Chadwick Boseman’s depiction of Jackie Robinson. I’m not that familiar with the real Robinson, but I will say that even I could tell how powerful Boseman’s feelings were about this part. He never once played the victim card, a pitfall of many racially focused films, but rather looked the hatred in the eye and faced it head-on, not with blind courage, but with a real strength that I admired throughout the entire film.

The second was a potent, yet small, interaction between a child and his (I’m assuming) father at a baseball game. It starts with the child’s excitement over the sport, to which the father responds kindly. But when Robinson takes the field and the crowd (including the father) scream racial obscenities, the child has a moment of conflict before joining in with the hateful crowd. This was heartbreaking to me. But the moment is redeemed when the child’s hero (Pee Wee Reese, if I remember correctly) puts his arm around Jackie as an act of acceptance in the face of such hatred. The child stops screaming hate and we can see the absolute regret, yet change of heart, which the adolescent faces. Beautiful.

The third thing that impressed me about this movie was Alan Tudyk’s portrayal of Ben Chapman. I simply cannot stop thinking about it. He plays the manager of the Phillies, and is an absolutely unforgiving manifestation of racism. I’m pretty sure 95% of the uses of the “n-word” came from this man. Being familiar with his other work (A Knights Tale, Wreck-It Ralph, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Dodgeball, Firefly), I was shocked to see him play a despicable racist so unapologetically, but boy was it effective. The audience is forced to hate him as his two-dimensionality prevents him from actually seeming human, but he gets his dues in a way that had me rolling with laughter. I’d go so far as to say this movie is worth watching for his performance alone.

And yes, Harrison Ford does a great job (even though he had some of the cheesiest and unrealistic monologues in the entire film).

Overall, I would recommend 42 to fans of sports movies and films that safely tackle racial inequality without committing to the real harshness of racism. As for me, I’ll be watching (the historically inaccurate but realistically harsh) Django Unchained again.